Amy: Sorry about the evil cliffys! ~.^
Lighted Eagle:: I like Obi-torture too but everytime I write it I feel sick...
Culf: *crumbles while looking at the puppy-dog eyes* Fine, ok.
Obiwanfan: Yay! Thanks for reviewing!! I always lurk around people's stories. I'm the one that reads them but never reviews unless it's outstanding. Thankyou for your review!
Louie: I'm going to feel even more stupid picking it up. I felt dumb reading The Hidden Past Only because of the huge print and huge glossy picture on the front.....I kept getting weird stares from people walking past because i'm the type of girl you see reading big thick books with tiny print like Lord of the Rings and the Carmody series. A typical book of mine has around 400 pages. But i'm weird and thats just me!
Anna: (You don't mind if i call you that right?) Well, wow. You always have heaps of questions and I love reading them! River and Qui-Gon are clear on another planet elsewhere in the galaxy, so i'm afriad that it's not River to the rescue. Also, I live in Australia. From the time difference you're describing i'm guessing you live in America, somewhere like California? Don't tell me you wait up all night just for me to update???
Dant: I will update. I promise.
Spaz: What's different about it? To me, it seems really sterotyped. But then again, I still have slight misgivings about this story!!
Salak: I've only read The Hidden Past. I thought it was alright. Nothing too great, but not bad. My dad hated it!! And he's the SW fan!!
Jesus Christ!! 13 reviews for just 1 chapter. I must be doing something right! Since you had to endure two cliffhangers in a row. I decided to let you have a longer chapter. I hope you like it...
Does anyone recognise where Mr Bimbo comes from? Heres a hint, think of puppets and treasure....
****As the images unwind
Like the cirlces that you find
In the windmills of your mind
- The Windmills Of Your Mind
****The guard gave a sadistic grin and congratulated himself as his target blew apart. (Good one Hye'ik. Perfect shot. That Juank would've ripped that boy's throat right off. Not that I really give a stuff about the boy……). He watched as the Juanks drew back, surprise followed by terror in their movements.
One of the Juanks slunk around the edges of the pack, it could still taste the sweet, coppery taste of blood on it's tongue and it wanted more. Growling, it considered its options and flung itself towards the boy; hoping to bite off a piece, before it too, was blown away.
The guard gave a smug smile as he watched the Juanks rebellious nature. Calmly, he lifted up the rifle, aimed and pulled the trigger. The blast caught the unfortunate beast mid-air and it was nearly spilt in two. As it's halves hit the clearing floor with a wet thud, the Juanks became even more nervous. The guard coolly took aim once again and felled a Juank in the middle of the pack. It had been doing nothing but there is nothing better then striking fear into your opposition's heart to make him bow down. The Juanks instantly lost their urge for blood as the instinct of self-preservation overrode everything else.
He put the whistle to his lips and deliberately blew it hard and long. The Juanks understanding the signal slunk back behind the boy and lay down. Their eyes were full of hate and fury, thinking that they had been robbed of a kill that belonged to them. The guard gave another arrogant smile and came down from the spotlight tower to the clearing. Along the way he stopped off at a prison cell and randomly grabbed one of the occupants.
"W-What what are you g-g-going to d-do to me?" The terrified slave stammered.
The guard gave an evil smirk, "You'll find out soon enough." Then just to make conversation, "What did you do wrong?"
"D-d-do wrong, sir?"
"Why are you in the cell?"
"F-f-f-fourth escape a-a-attempt sir."
"What, you don't like it here?" The man's voice was full of scorn and dark teasing. The slave didn't answer. "Well, maybe you'll like it better where we're going."
They stepped out into the clearing and were met with low growls from the Juanks, expressing their barely contained anger. The slave cringed and tried to cling closer to the guard. He didn't seem to notice but just kept walking closer. He held the rifle in front of him, his finger on the trigger should he be needed to fire quickly.
He looked down at the boy's pale face. (Shit. He does look pretty bad). He knelt down and pushed his finger up and along the boy's jaw to see if he had a pulse. There! He had one but it was incredibly faint and jerky, his heart randomly beating, skipping now and again.
The slave drew in a breath, "I-is he d-d…….d-dead?"
"No, but he will be if I don't get him back inside the compound quickly. And if he dies, then I'll be in deep shit." The guard looked thoughtfully around and then his eyes came to rest on the slave. The slave gulped and tried to back away but there wasn't really anywhere to back away to.
None too gently, he grabbed Obi-Wan and heaved him onto his shoulder, but then thinking of the injuries the boy might have sustained repositioned the boy so that he was cradling him in his arms. The boy was amazingly light but being skin and bones the guard hadn't expected much else.
He turned and started walking quickly back towards the compound. He could feel the boy's blood soaking into his clothes. (How much blood has he lost? There was enough to create several black puddings back there and if he's still bleeding now then I don't give much for his chances getting back to the factory alive) the guard thought worriedly, thinking about the position that that would put him in. He sped up till he was steadily jogging.
"W-what about m-me?" The slaves voice floated over to the guard and he stopped. He turned back and grinned over his shoulder, his teeth glowing in the moonlight making him look strangely vampire-like.
"Sorry, I almost forgot." Still holding Obi-Wan he put the whistle to his lips and blew a pattern.
Without looking at the slave he kept trotting towards the ever-nearing factory. A scream split the air behind him and he allowed himself a smile.
"Eat up Juanks. There's your trophy." He murmured to himself as the slave's screams, shrieks and pleadings fell on deaf ears. (Got to keep the Juanks happy).
****The doctor sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily as he looked down at the patient that had just been brought in. (They can't be serious…)
"I want him conscious by tomorrow."
The doctor exhaled and spoke slowly, as if talking to a young child, "His body has taken a lot of punishment. He might not even make it through the night."
"You better hope he does doctor. His life is your life."
"You can't be serious! He is only a slave! I am a fully qualified doctor! You need me!"
"That's where you're wrong. We can get any doctor we want, but we need to find out how this apparently amnesia stricken boy has managed to convince the computer that he is dead. And then make us believe that he was some offworld company. I think that the computer security breach is a fair bit more important then you. Understand?"
"Explicitly." The doctor ground out between clenched teeth, "I will try my best."
The guard snorted, "You better try better then your best. If the child isn't coherent when the next sun cycle starts, then you might as well class your life as forfeited."
The doctor watched through slitted eyes as the guard left. As soon as the guard was out of earshot, he let go some horribly foul language directed at God, the factory, the slave masters, the guards, the Juanks and at the boy lying on the bed.
(If the boy is to make it, then I better get started) The doctor was resigned to his fate and started moving throughout the room to get his tools of the trade together.
It was indeed a long night, the longest that the doctor could remember. Several times during night the boy had nearly crossed over to the other side. Every time, the doctor had just managed to convince his body otherwise.
He depressed the plunger and withdrew the needle from the boy's vein. (There, that should do it) he thought with satisfaction.
He sat down in the chair beside the boy's bed and waited. As he waited he surveyed his handiwork with professional pride. He had stitched up the boy's cuts and placed bacta on them to speed up the healing process. Many were deep and the cuts on the boy's legs, arms and hands fascinated the doctor. There were clean and almost straight – as if the boy had been cut with a knife or some extremely sharp object. What had bothered him the most though were the jagged tears and deep gashes inflicted by the Juanks. The beasts were notorious for their foul breath and infestive bite. He had cleaned them as best as he could and placed anti-bacterial agents into the cuts themselves but he would have to watch them closely so that they wouldn't become infected.
He had set the broken collarbone and bound up the boy's ribcage. Although no ribs had been broken, there were many hairline fractures throughout the ribcage. The boy was lucky, the doctor surmised. A bit more pressure and the Juanks would've crushed the boy's fragile ribcage, destroying his lungs and ultimately ending the boy's life – rather painfully.
When the boy had first come to him, he had been so weak, the doctor was afraid that he was going to lose him to something so simple as blood-loss. As soon as the guard had left the doctor had set up a blood transfusion. He had kept them going ever since and colour was finally returning to the boys face. Although he was still pale he didn't have the glassy, waxen look of those near to death. If anything, the boy's cheeks were gaining more colour – getting a pinkish twinge to his cheeks.
(Anytime soon, should be soon) The doctor waited patiently for the serum he had given the boy to take effect. The boy was out of the danger zone, his vitals had stabilized sometime during the night and although he was weak he wasn't deadly weak. The serum that the doctor had given was a stimulant and would gradually wake the boy up.
The doctor glanced at the chronometer beside him and was shocked to see that it was indeed the start of the daycycle. He had been with the boy for around 6 hours and hadn't even noticed the time go past. Almost immediately the door to the intensive care unit was roughly pushed open and the guard who had dumped the boy on the doctor strode in. He came right to the point of the visit:
"Is he awake?"
"Not yet but---"
"Do you remember what I told you? I specifically said that he would be awake or else something not-so-nice would happen to you."
"He will wake up soon!" The doctor gulped nervously, the guards here scared him.
"You better hope so doctor." The guard gave him an innocent smile while emphasizing the last word. He sat down and waited.
5 minutes passed.
The guard gave the doctor a meaningful glance and the doctor unconsciously backed away until he felt the wall behind him. The doctor was saved from a messy end by Obi-Wan emitting a groan and trying to roll over.
The doctor's professional instincts took control and he rushed over to his patient's bed to hold the boy down so that he wouldn't injure himself further.
The boy thrashed weakly and mumbled, "L-let…..me……. go….." The doctor firmly held on and whispered to the boy, "Wake up. Wake up! You're safe. You're in the hospital, nothing bad will happen to you."
The guard snickered, "Sure, you're safe. Nothing bad will happen to you for the moment."
The doctor didn't spare the guard a glance but continuously kept talking to the boy in a quiet, calming voice.
Obi-Wan tried to open his eyes but they seemed to be glued together. Nothing seemed to work. His voice stuck in his throat and his tongue seemed to have grown fur. As he struggled to get through the gray patch of semi-consciousness, his surroundings become clearer. For a start Obi-Wan knew that he wasn't dead. Death wasn't supposed to hurt this much. He was supposed to become one with the Force.
Obi-Wan mentally sighed, (More stupid repressed memories floating to the surface. So, pray do tell….what is the Force? Sounds like something you would worship. Oh hail ye, the Force has come calling upon us. Us? Thee? Thy?) the boy's thoughts were confused as he tried to reach full consciousness.
As everything started to become clearer, the full pain of his injuries struck the boy and Obi-Wan let out a small moan and tried to turn over. Secure arms wrapped around him and he struggled weakly. A soothing voice reached his senses and Obi-Wan momentarily stilled.
(Master?)
The voice continued and Obi-Wan forced himself to open his eyes, (Why did I say that? Was I a slave in my previous life?)
The doctor stifled back a cry of satisfaction as the boy opened his eyes. Admittedly, the aquamarine orbs were dull and the pupils were highly dilated, but the eyes focused never-the-less on the doctors face.
The guard leaned forward and lifted his eyebrows at the doctor, "So, the slave awakes. I will take him now." He got up out of his chair and started towards the boy but the doctor stepped in. He might be ruthless and work only for the highest bidder and do what they say, which was ethically incorrect, but he was still a doctor at heart. He wouldn't let his charge leave until he was, at least, coherent of the world around him and able to deal with the inquisition that he would have to face.
The doctor scowled, the boy had just gone through hell and now they were going to push him back there. (It would've been more merciful if they had just shot him instead of the Juank.) No doubt they would use his injuries against him in the questioning. The doctor's scowl grew even fiercer. He didn't agree with what they did with the slaves, he didn't agree with the way they were treated but when the decision came down to his life or a slave's life, the decision was easy. He would try to stall for more time but there was no way that he could keep the boy sheltered for long.
"How many fingers am I holding up?"
Obi-Wan squinted, "W-why a-aren't I dead?" The events of the escape were beginning to become clear and he had been particularly sure that a Juank had ripped open his throat. Unconsciously, he brought his bandaged hands up and rubbed his throat.
The doctor gently pulled the boy's hand back down, "The guard shot the Juank before it got to you."
(Did he now? That must be the reason why I have various Juank bites all over me and a broken collarbone and a chest that feels like it's on fire every time I breathe. Gee, well, thank you Mr. Guard for stopping the Juanks getting to me.) Obi-Wan darkly thought but in reality weakly said, "O-ohk".
"So, how many fingers am I holding up?" The doctor got back to his original question, hoping that the boy would get it wrong so he could have a reason to detain him longer.
Obi-Wan narrowed his eyes, "Two."
The doctor's heart sank, "Correct." He tried again, "Does your chest hurt?"
"Yes."
"In or out?"
"S-sorry?"
"Does it hurt when you breath in or out?"
"B-both."
"Hmm. Thought so. You have many hairline fractures throughout your ribs and sternum. I'm guessing that this was caused by the juanks. You'll just have to breathe light until they heal. You will also not be able to lie on your side or front for a while."
"Oh." (What else am I meant to say? Thankyou?)
The guard stepped forward and grabbed Obi-Wan's arm, the boy flinched and then clenched his teeth as the small movement caused pricks of intense pain along the top of his shoulder.
"S-shoulder?" The boy managed to stutter and the doctor jumped in. Gently pulling the guards arm away he said to the boy:
"You also have a broken collarbone. I have set it and the bone-knitting agents have started their work but you won't be able to do any strenuous activity for about a week."
At those words the boy's heart sank. (No one wants a useless slave. Why didn't they just let me die?). The doctor continued now talking to the guard, not noticing the sudden slump in the boy.
"He is still too weak to be taken. You must let him rest here or else you might aggravate his injuries further."
The guard sniggered, "We want to aggravate his injuries further. We don't need your advice doctor. I told you I wanted him coherent in the morning, and he is. Well done. That's where your job ends. It doesn't matter what happens to the slave now so just put him out of your head. I'll be taking him now. The master wants to have a private chat with him about his little stunts on the computer."
Obi-Wan felt the dread slowly creep up on him at the guard's words. (So that's why I'm still alive. They broke the red herring and are going to ask, no, question, how I did that. What am I meant to say? Mr Bimbo, the man who lives in my finger did it? Sure, 456. They'll believe that. If they have to choose between and that or the truth that I have no idea how I did it, I'm pretty sure they'll choose Mr Bimbo.)
Obi-Wan started as the guard's fingers grabbed harder into his arm and he gave a gasp as the movement caused pain to shoot up his arm and across his chest. He began heaving in an effort to still the pain but that caused his ribs to hurt massively causing even further pain. (Stop….it! Stop…..it!) He chanted but every breath he took to stop the pain made it worst.
The doctor noticed the boy's distress, "You can't! He is in no fit medical condition for the questioning!"
The guard gave another evil chuckle and dragged Obi-Wan ½ off the bed, making the boy let off a cry, "Too bad doctor. By the time we're finished with him, he won't be in a fit medical condition for anything!"
The doctor was horrified at what he was hearing and tried to give the boy one last helping hand before it was taken away from him, "He needs something to help him with the pain! At least let me give him a painkiller!"
"Get stuffed! Let me get this straight. You want to give him a painkiller? When the whole point of us taking him is to question him, using pain if necessary?" The guard threw back his head and laughed, "You must be insane old man!" Before the doctor could retort, he picked the boy up bodily, threw him over his shoulder - eliciting another cry from Obi-Wan and strode out of the ward and down the hall.
The doctor put his head back into his hands and rubbed his temples. (It's time to get out of this job. Stuff the money.)
****Billy opened her eyes and looked around her in confusion. (Uhm, how did I get here?) She was in the cargo bay of some ship and the boxes were stacked high all above her, totally obscuring her from the view of a passing crewmember.
She groaned and almost physically beat her head against the boxes as the memories of the past 5 hours came into her mind. (456. I left him behind….)
She started panicking as she realised what she had done, "I left him behind. I left him behind! I left him behind! I left him behind. I LEFT HIM BEHIND!!! SHIT!!! How could I possibly do a thing like that?!?!? HOW?!?!?! He was my friend and I left him to be slaughtered. Even worse, slaughtered by the Juanks! How could I? How could I have possibly done that? How can I call myself a friend if I did that to him? HOW??? WHY??? Why did I leave him behind??" A frown crossed over her face.
"I don't know why I left. I don't know how I left. I don't know how I got here." Billy put her head back into her hands and curled her knees up to her chin. "How did I get here? Why didn't I take 456 with me?" She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, "Ok, Billy. Let's take this slowly. You crossed the boundary and you were fine. He crossed the boundary and set it off. The pain inflector was activated. You were determined not to leave him behind." She screwed her eyes shut and tried desperately to remember what happened next, "He was talking, saying something and then it's blank. I can't remember anything! I can't remember what happened next. Why can't I remember???" She lifted her head out of her hands and rested it on her knees.
"I woke up and I'm aboard this ship. Ok, lets just forget about the blank part. I wonder if this is what 456 feels like….."She let herself become momentarily side-tracked as she compared her amnesia to Obi-Wans.
She gave herself a mental pinch and continued logically, "So you're on the ship. You can't go back without reporting your presence. Reporting your presence would ultimately end with your death. The crew would kill you and then there would be no chance of returning to 456. So you have to stay alive, if only for his sake. So we come to the million-credit question. Where am I?" She moved slightly was surprised by the sound of paper crinkling in her tunic.
"Ohhh." She said wordlessly as she drew out the maps that she had totally forgotten about. She soundlessly sorted through them until she got to the one that would offer the most help and read through the words minutely. As she read, she unconsciously muttered and murmured to herself, continuously keeping up a soft sound throughout the reading. The rustling became more urgent as she quickly swapped pages and checked maps. When the rustling finally stopped Billy looked up into nothing, tears glistening in her eyes.
The ship she was on was called 'Ezra'; it had left the factory at precisely 1am that fateful morning. It was carrying weapons, destined for transfer at a pre-arranged place in space, which was carefully concealed to avoid detectment from Republic. It would arrive at the next space-port in exactly 2 days – quite a fair distance away from Obi-Wan. The planet that it would stop at was called K'ejuk. The ship was not making a return trip. Or, actually, it would make a return trip but it would return to the factory in a year.
Billy gulped and tried to keep the tears at bay, "A year. I cannot wait a year to get back to 456. 2 days might be too long – who knows what they're going to do to him. If he is even alive," she whispered brokenly.
She could not hold the tears back and they flowed silently down her cheeks, splashing to the cold metal floor below. (I'm so sorry 456. So sorry. So very sorry. I'm sorry for leaving you behind. Please, please, forgive me. Please………..) she silently begged her conscious as the ship sped onwards, further away from Obi-Wan, unaware of the distraught girl deep within it's metal belly.
****Qui-Gon's head snapped up and his grey eyes flared back into life.
River stopped what he was doing and stepped warily towards his mentor. "Uh, Qui-Gon are you okay?"
For a while, Qui-Gon didn't even acknowledge the young man hovering worriedly beside him but just continued to stare into nothing. His lips twisted and formed, "Obi-Wan!" Just as suddenly as Qui-Gon had snapped to attention he slumped to the ground.
"Qui-Gon! Qui-Gon! What just happened? What's wrong?" River dropped to his knees beside the older man and wrapped his arm protectively around his shoulder.
Qui-Gon turned bright eyes to River and River almost stumbled backwards by the intensity of light reflected deep in the iris of the man's grey-steel eyes. "He's alive!" Qui-Gon breathed the words softly, lest they might shatter reality.
"Alive? Who's alive?" River was confused, things had moved too fast.
"Obi-Wan! Obi-Wan's alive!"
"Oh, Obi-Wan." River forcefully shoved his jealously back in place and tried to sound cheerful for Qui-Gon. "Well, that's fantastic! How did you know?"
As he asked the question Qui-Gon frowned, "I was in meditation just then as you saw….." He trailed off and continued when River nodded in affirmation, "When suddenly something flared in the force. It was like a pulse but stronger, louder." He paused as he tried to get the feeling across to the young man standing beside him. "After the initial pulse I looked closer and although it was slightly different it still had my Padawan's signature. Very faint, but still there. The actual magnitude of the force pulse was incredibly high, almost as if it was trying to break something by brute force. It didn't go along with the flow but sort of against it." Qui-Gon stopped suddenly catching the perplexed expression on River's face.
He sighed (If only I could explain this in simple English), "Imagine a stream." River nodded and Qui-Gon kept up his metaphor. "The stream is flowing gently, constantly in a single direction. There are eddies and swirls but generally everything is going in one direction. Do you follow?" River nodded once again.
"Fine. Then imagine that someone has thrown a rock into the water. This creates ripples does it not?" River nodded this time in irritation, wondering where all this 'stream flowing' business was going to lead.
Qui-Gon sensed his impatience and hurriedly continued (And I thought Obi-Wan had bad patience skills), "The person has thrown the rock in with all the his force possible creating a huge shockwave in the water. Now as the ripples spread, the rock does not sink like a normal rock but continues to move against the flow of the stream. This metaphor of going against the natural flow of the water means that whoever dropped that rock did it with the intention to go against the natural flow of nature." Qui-Gon looked up hoping to see the expression of enlightenment firmly written across River's face.
He was awarded with an expression of bottomless uncertainty. "So…………..?" River tried to piece the puzzle together.
Qui-Gon sighed even deeper (Patience, Force give me strength), "It means that Obi-Wan used the force to change someone's mind or make that person go against their original actions and the magnitude of the wave indicates that he made it strong enough to shatter anything in the way – or overestimated in desperation or something."
"Ohh," River made a sound that he hoped sounded like comprehension, "And this tells you that Obi-Wan is alive?"
Qui-Gon gave up trying, "Yes River. It means that Obi-Wan is alive. It also means that Obi-Wan got into a bit of trouble and was forced to use his powers. What I don't understand is why has he been silent this whole time? Maybe his memory returned and he was able to access the Force, but if that is so then why is he not trying to contact me?" Qui-Gon argued needlessly against himself.
River shrugged, "Does it really matter? Just forget about that for the moment. So, now we know that he is alive. That is what matters." River cocked his head to the side and scratched his hair, "Didn't you tell me once that you could contact each other through some mental bond that you had? If so, can you trace him?"
Qui-Gon scowled, "No, I can't feel him again. It's like, after that initial burst he's erected his shields once again. I can feel a sort of after affect but it's pretty widespread and distant."
"So can you feel where he is?" River tried to re-arrange his question hoping for an answer that made sense.
"Yes and no. I can probably give you a general area where it happened but that area is very general and widespread."
"Well, it's a start isn't it?" River made an effort to sound optimistic. He started walking back to ship, "Let's get back on board, pull out the maps and see if you can pinpoint where Obi-Wan is."
Qui-Gon stood up and didn't even stop to dust himself off. River looked at him and couldn't help but let a smile play around his lips. The man's normally spotless brown robes now harboured a two toned effect from the gradual increase of red dust towards the hem. The planet they were currently on seemed to be made entirely out of red dust that stained absolutely everything. River's brown hair had gained a red tinge to it and even his skin had a suggestion of red about it.
Qui-Gon glanced back at the young man and caught his amused expression, "And what are you grinning like an idiot about?"
River coughed and looked away, "Nothing Qui-Gon, nothing. Now, let's check out these maps, shall we?" He quickly changed the subject and strode off and up the ship's access ramp.
As Qui-Gon joined him in the navigation room, River brought up a map of the star system that they were in. Qui-Gon shook his head and River brought up a map that contained the star system that they were in and several around it. They continued this way for about thirty minutes, River using their planet as the centre of an ever-widening circle with an ever-widening diameter.
"Stop!" Qui-Gon's voice almost cracked and he closed his eyes to check with his memory if it was correct. River obediently froze the computer, catching the map in place. "That's it. It was somewhere in this chart that the wave originated from."
River raised his eyebrow in question at the older man, "The area that you're pointing at is weeks away from where we are. If you are correct that means that Obi-Wan has been almost transported from one side of the galaxy to the other."
Qui-Gon nodded, "I am certain."
River inclined his head, "Can you narrow the area down?"
After about another fifteen minutes the two had shrunk that search area into a respectable size. If it was a circle, the diameter could be described as a week of travel in hyperspace and included around 600 planets, all of which had no connection to the Republic.
River groaned in frustration, "When I said 'narrow down the area' I didn't mean just cut out about 10 planets."
"I'm sorry for your inconvenience River but I told you that the disturbance was widespread." Qui-Gon snapped his nerves frayed. "Since I can't feel Obi-Wan's mind I can't trace it any further."
River wisely held his mouth and carefully thought over his next words. "Well, then. I guess we shouldn't bother continuing in this section of the galaxy. I forward the motion that we move to that area that you picked out. After all, according to your information that is the place where we are most likely to find him, right?"
Qui-Gon nodded slowly, (But what if I'm wrong? And I'll miss the planet that Obi-Wan really is on), "Hang on River. I need to meditate on this. Call me when the sun begins to set."
River barely suppressed another groan, (More meditation? What the galaxy for?!?)
Qui-Gon hid a sad, small smile at River's noisy thoughts, "Because in meditation the Force might offer some assistance or give up an answer." (Obi-Wan always hated meditation and patience testing.)
River started, "What the……?!?!?"
The older man just gave an enigmatic smile and turned to go to his chamber, "Trust in the Force River."
"Sure thing." River muttered. (That's just really creepy.)
****In his private meditation room Yoda stirred. He opened his almond eyes and stared deeply into nothing.
"Strange, that is. Clouded the future is. Alive Obi-Wan Kenobi is. Drawing near the end of the journey, I feel. Strong in the Force he is."
Yoda gave a shudder, and tucked his arms more closely to his side; as if a draft of icy old air had blasted through the room.
"Qui-Gon reach his Padawan in time I hope. Time to spare, there is not."